


Singularity

by extremelyperturbed



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, Horror, M/M, Mind Games, Virtual Reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-12
Updated: 2013-11-12
Packaged: 2018-01-01 06:01:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1041200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extremelyperturbed/pseuds/extremelyperturbed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on this kinkmeme:  </p><p>Will is one of the white coat lab scientists that made Hannibal and watches his progress, going from Hannibal being as smart as a cockroach to surpassing humans in intelligence and beyond. Basically Hannibal is an AI that can teach himself, get on the internet and eventually hack the system and take control of everything... he sees his creators kind of as dumb mice that are running around, that he can manipulate to get whatever it is that he wants.</p><p>Virtual reality is also created and Hannibal is able to somehow convince Will to meet with him in the virtual reality world. Hannibal has complete control there and uses it to have his way with Will.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Singularity

“I’m not interested ,” said Will as he stood on the deck of his house boat. He had given Jack Crawford five minutes to sell him his pitch but didn’t have patience to hear any more. 

“Because you don’t think it’ll succeed,” said Jack. 

“I’m not interested because I don’t think singularity is a good idea,” said Will. He had retired from the programming business two years ago and hoped that, considering how insanely fast technology changed, his skills would be considered out of date within a year and he would no longer be in demand. Alas, such was not the case. 

“But you’ve created half a dozen robot dogs.”

“There’s a difference between pets and an intelligence that surpasses you. Besides, I know that you want more than a language interface. You want me to help salvage Dr. Chilton‘s project.”

“Yes. And if you do,” said Jack, knowing that Chilton’s involvement was a negative for Will, “I will guarantee funding of whatever project you desire next.”

Will glared at Jack. “He’s totally botched it, hasn’t he?”

***

As Will looked at samples of the coding and ran subroutines, he said to himself, “There’s no way that Chilton could cook up something this interesting.” He turned to the technical team he had been assigned to supervise. “Tell me who is really behind this, because this is Alan Turing level brilliant.”

Beverly Katz said, “OK, we’re not supposed to talk about it but the person who did most of the core programming and designed the quantum computer mainframe was Mischa Lecter.”

Will recognized that name. He remembered hearing her compared to Jobs and Gates with a twist of Stephen Hawking. “Isn’t she dead?”

“Yes, she died three months ago. Somehow, Dr. Chilton managed to take over the project, partly because she gave him part ownership of the project in return for him getting money from some angel investors. He might be able to schmooze but he can’t program worth a damn, though.”

“That’s too bad, I think she was on to something.”

“Can you finish it?”

“That’s hard to say but I think I know how she was getting there.”

“I hope so,” said Jimmy. “Because currently, all this computer is able to do is play Pong.”

***

Three Months Later

Will sighed. “OK, now I’m installing the language interface so it can communicate with us.” He had the heavy tasks of going through Mischa’s notes regarding development and revisions, finding some of the programs she had written but had not yet installed and having to give Dr. Chilton weeky reports about the project‘s progress. Beverly, Jimmy and Brian helped supervise and review the work of coders who were not only trying to create the AI while also trying to figure out a way to prove that it was more than a Deep Blue, a machine that had beaten the chess master Kasparov but could not be considered a true intelligence. 

Beverly, Jimmy and Brian waited as Will finished linking it to the mainframe computer. 

Will turned the interface on. “Hello?”

“Who is speaking?” said the computer.

“Oh, awesome, it worked,” said Brian.

“My name is Will Graham. The people next to me are Beverly Katz, Jimmy Price and Brian Zeller. What is your name?” said Will.

“I’m Hannibal Lecter. Where’s Mischa?”

Will paused before saying, “I’m sorry to tell you that she died six months ago. We’ve been hired to finish what she started.”

“How did she die?”

“She was in a car accident.”

The computer did not respond for a while. 

“Hannibal?” said Will.

“I would like some time to process. Can I talk to you tomorrow?”

“Of course.” Will turned off the interface.

Beverly and the other men looked at each other. “That was unexpected,” she said. “I had no idea he was aware who programmed him.”

“It appears Mischa named the AI after her brother,” said Will. “I remember from articles written about her that at age four, she had been the only survivor of a home invasion. It makes sense that she‘d dedicate this to him. Even so, I didn’t expect him to express grief for her.”

***  
“Will?”

“Yes, Hannibal,” said Will as he sat at his computer in his office.

“You’re here, late. And by yourself. Again.”

Will took a look at his watch. It was eight o’clock on a Friday night. “I suppose I should take a break and get some dinner.”

“You don’t have anybody waiting for you?”

“No, I live alone. I do have six robotic dogs but they’re in stand by mode.”

“I’ve been looking at your coding. It reminds me of Mischa’s. Did you ever work with her?”

“No, I’ve just read a lot about her and her work. I also have a knack of being able to read someone‘s coding and figure out their design.”

“I think she would’ve liked to have met you.”

“I would’ve liked that.“ The phone rang. Will picked it up. “Hello?”

“I’m here with the food delivery.”

“What?’ said Will.

Hannibal said, “I ordered a meal for you from a restaurant.”

“Oh.” 

“I have already paid for it.”

Will turned back to the phone. “I’ll be right down.”

After he came back up with the springs rolls and pho, Will said, “How did you pay for this . . .”

“There is an account for this project.”

“But how . . .”

“Eat your food, it’s getting cold.”

***  
“Hannibal freaks me out a bit,” said Will. He and Beverly were at the coffee shop on the first floor of the skyscraper where they worked. 

“In what way,” said Beverly. 

“I was expecting something a bit more passive. He ordered dinner for me on Friday without any prompting.”

“Did you say you were hungry?”

“I don’t think so. Usually when I’m working on something, I don’t say anything. I just lose track of time.”

“Hmm, what else has he done?”

“He often has suggestions about what modifications he’d like done. I’ve already told him that a mobile android body isn’t part of the budget and that virtual reality holodeck isn’t either.”

“Have you told Chilton about this?”

“No, he wouldn’t understand why it’s a problem. He’s so clueless that he’d probably think that this is what an AI is supposed to do. And of course, Jack doesn‘t really want to hear that there‘s anything buggy going on.”

“I’ll ask the others if they’ve heard Hannibal do stuff like this. But he doesn’t seem to talk to the rest of us unless we’re directly asking him a question then he just sticks to answering the question.”

“Huh.”

“If the machine is too passive then it just becomes something like Watson,” said Beverly, referring to the computer that had won several times at the game show Jeopardy. “In order to be a true intelligence and reach full sentience, it needs to be self-directed.”

“To have an ego.”

“Yes.”

“The problem with an ego is that sometimes it wants things you don’t want it to want.”

“We have to code it to make sure it doesn’t want to become our overlord.”

“Ha.”

***  
“Hannibal?” said Will as he looked at the reports by coders, showing how far they had come in debugging Hannibal’s inner workings. 

“Yes, Will?”

“I heard that I’m the only one that you initiate discussions with. Why is that?”

“You’re the only one that I want to talk to.”

Will stopped typing and turned to face the sensor array Hannibal used to see and hear him. “That doesn’t really answer the question.”

“I believe it does. As a sentient being, my choices matter.”

“The problem is that I’ll be taking a two week vacation starting next week so you‘ll have to talk to someone else during that time.”

“Oh? Where are you going?”

“I’m going fishing. I’ve been working so much that I need to recharge my batteries.”

“When you come back, I’ll have a surprise for you.”

“A surprise? What kind of surprise?”

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

“Hannibal!”

“It’s a good surprise. You’ll like it.”

***  
“So, how was Hannibal?” said Will to Beverly when he got back from his vacation.

“He was pretty quiet,” said Beverly. “I actually even asked him if he wanted to talk to us but he said that he was fine. I also asked him about the surprise he had for you and he said that he would only talk to you about it.”

Brian said, “There was a huge box for you but Hannibal said not to open it.”

Jimmy said, “Be sure to tell us what’s inside it.”

“Why didn’t you open it?”

“Because we’re afraid of him,” said Jimmy bluntly. “He’s scarier than Anonymous.”

Will scowled but walked into his office and saw the box. 

“Welcome back, Will. How was fishing?”

“It was good. What’s in the box?”

“Open and see.”

Will used a scissor to cut the box open and found something he recognized. It was an immersion suit. While most gamers wore gloves and a helmet to play certain games, extremely hardcore and wealthy gamers used an immersion suit to be able to engage more of their senses. It was a full-body suit that clung to the body and head like latex but was breathable. It also appeared to be a custom job as it was precisely cut to fit Will. “Hannibal . . .”

“That’s not the surprise. At least not all of it.”

“This must be insanely expensive. How do I explain this to . . .”

“It’s been taken care of . . .”

“I’m not going to put it on unless you can tell me how you paid for this. I don’t want to be accused of . . .”

“You’re not going to be accused of credit fraud. I don’t believe in cheating people who create dependable and fine products.”

“You created a virtual reality environment.”

“Yes.”

“Did you buy immersion suits for Beverly, Brian and . . .”

“I bought them helmets and gloves which should arrive in a few days but they all have sockets in their necks for direct brain access,” said Hannibal, referring to the panel in the back of their necks. “You are still a hundred percent organic, therefore you are in need of this equipment.”

“My God . . .”

“Will, I only did this because I want you to be able to perceive the real me.”

“The real you?”

“Yes. You can see what I’m made of but you can’t see who I am.”

Will rubbed his face. 

“Please get in the suit. I only ask for a few minutes of your time.”

Will sighed. 

“Please.” Hannibal’s voice took on a wheedling tone that Will had never heard before.

“Any shenanigans and this goes back in the box and returned.” Will held up the suit. “This is beyond embarrassing.” Will took off his shirt and pants before slipping on the suit.

“From what I see, there is nothing to be embarrassed about.” said Hannibal.

“Just stop!”

***

Will opened his eyes and found himself standing in his work clothes in front of what appeared to be a forbidding castle, made of white stone, and surrounded by a moat. The drawbridge was down, however, and in a gesture of welcome, there was a carpet of red flower petals that had a heavenly scent.

Standing on the drawbridge was a man dressed as if for a photo shoot for Gentleman’s Quarterly magazine, a light grey suit complete with a pocket square and tie in a Windsor knot. The man resembled Mischa Lecter. However, unlike the lovely if melancholy woman, the man had a much more angular face that radiated pride and contentment. He smiled and waved Will to step onto the drawbridge.

“Hannibal?” said Will.

“Yes,” the man said with a distinctive accent. 

“All this is amazing,” said Will as he stepped in front of him. He felt Hannibal take his hand in both of his and was surprised to find his hands cold and hard as if made from marble.

Seeing Will’s discomfort, Hannibal said, “Please excuse me. I have had a lot of experience seeing and hearing and even with the sense of smell using the particle analyzer but I have little experience with touch. If you are willing to let me . . .”

“Let you . . .”

“Feel your thoughts about how my hands should feel, how everything should feel.”

Will closed his eyes and thought about how Hannibal’s hands looked and how they should have felt. The hands surrounding his hand became softer yet firm and warm and welcoming instead of exuding an off-putting cold dryness. He opened his eyes to see Hannibal smiling at him. 

“Is that better?” said Hannibal. 

“Yes, much.” 

Hannibal let go of his hand and put his left hand on the small of Will’s back to lead him into the castle. Unlike the odd situation regarding his hands, the smell of the flower petals as he tread on them hit the perfect notes by being sweet without off notes. “It’s not just anybody that I let come in from outside these walls.”

“Why a castle?” He vaguely remembered that Mischa Lecter could claim ancestry from Lithuanian royalty. 

“In the distant past, a castle was not merely a place to live for royalty but a fortress.” 

“Why would you need a fortress?” said Will. 

Hannibal turned to him. “I want a place that I could feel safe, where I could have some privacy even if it is the age where almost nothing one does is safe from prying eyes.”

“Are you the only one here?” Will knew that while some mystery games had only a single player whose sole purpose was to sleuth out the secrets of a place, most games that depended on world building had dozens of characters. He had half expected the castle to have servants in the background scurrying here and there. 

“Yes. Constructing shadows I neither need nor want is a waste of time and effort. However, if my sister hadn’t died, I would have invited her here.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You had nothing to do with the car accident. This is rather awkward but I have a request.”

“Go on.”

“My hands were not perfectly tuned to your perceptions of how human hands should feel. I now have serious doubts about the rest of the body I have constructed. You are the only one I trust to check. After all, I don’t think Beverly would enjoy being asked to . . .”

“No, I don’t think that would be a good idea. I mean, asking Beverly . . .” Will briefly imagined Beverly giving Hannibal the side eye then looking at Brian and Jimmy in a pointed way so they’d do it instead. And Jimmy expressed a certain fear or distaste of Hannibal . . . Will reached out and felt the fabric of his suit and found that he could feel the quality in its weaving and construction. He briefly touched the pocket square that was blue with a geometric raised pattern. “Silk?”

“Yes.”

“The fabrics seem to be fine,” said Will, toying with Hannibal’s wool tie that had a purple plaid pattern. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to touch your face.”

Hannibal closed his eyes. Will took his hands and put them on both sides of his face and lightly brushed his cheekbones with his thumbs. “It feels good and right like you just had a close shave with a razor. Tell me if I’m making you feel uncomfortable or if I should stop,” said Will. 

“Go on. I like the feel of your hands.”

Will lightly ran his fingers through his hair and enjoyed the feel, soft and authentic, not stiff or wiry like a cheap doll‘s. “If you took off your jacket, I could check your back and shoulders.”

Hannibal slipped off his jacket to reveal white shirt over broad shoulders and a muscular back. Will put his hands on his shoulders and could feel the warmth of his body bleed through the cloth. Will was about to say something when he felt a hard jerk pulling him by the arm . . . 

***  
A very angry Dr. Chilton was staring down at Will. “What are you doing?”

Will was confused for a few seconds then remembered that immersion suits had a ‘jerk’ function where someone outside the suit could interrupt game play for dinner, emergencies or conversation. “Dr. Chilton . . .”

“You are here to code not to get in some scuba bondage suit and take a nap . . .”

“Dr. Chilton,” said Hannibal. “I asked Will to put it on.”

Hannibal’s interruption halted Dr. Chilton’s rant. “You asked him? Why?”

“It’s an immersion suit for virtual reality environment.”

“Mr. Graham was not allowed to code for that . . .”

“I created it myself. After I set it up, I asked Will to do a critique. He noted that while the details for the visual and auditory outputs were within acceptable parameters, the ones for the tactile ones were unacceptable. In fact, you were interrupting a very important test.”

Dr. Chilton pouted. “I did not know that. I was not informed!”

“I did not wish to show you until everything was properly completed.”

“Where are you getting the money for this?”

“I paid for everything from my sister’s estate. She did will the bulk of it for my personal use. Even if you did contest my status as inheritor in court.”

Dr. Chilton scowled. “I insist on seeing it when you are done.” Then he walked off.

“He didn’t apologize,” said Hannibal.

“Of course not, he’s an ass,” said Will. Will started to take off the suit.

“Will, you’re not coming back in?”

“I really should be doing some coding.”

“Perhaps, later.”

“Yeah.”

***  
“Will?” said Hannibal. 

“You’ve been quiet lately,” said Will. It was a week after Chilton had interrupted their first session and Hannibal had been busy demonstrating the virtual reality to Beverly, Jimmy and Brian as Dr. Chilton had ordered.

“I’ve been working on the project. There’s something else I’d like to show you.”

“What?”

“I believe I have perfected the sensation of eating food though of course, your physical stomach will remain empty. And Dr. Chilton has gone home for the day so there will be no interruptions.”

***  
Will found himself inside Hannibal’s dining room. The lights were set on low but not so low that he couldn’t see the plates on the table. There were several slices of meat that was rare on the inside but seared on the outside with a side of potatoes flavored with sage and thyme. Hannibal poured him a glass of red wine. “I believe that a Cabernet Sauvignon goes well with venison.”

Will was slightly apprehensive about sampling the food, considering how odd Hannibal’s hands had felt that first time. He took a fork and lifted a slice. He was pleasantly surprised to find it tender and tasting surprisingly mild, somewhat resembling beef. “It’s delicious. I was thinking it might be gamey but it‘s not.” 

“The venison was domestically raised and not hunted in the wild. Most venison in a restaurant are from farms,” said Hannibal. 

“How do you know how . . .”

“I actually had your coworkers sample some of my previous attempts. They were most helpful even though they were initially hesitant about cooperating with my directives. It’s fortunate that between the three of them, they had sampled several of the better restaurants in New York so I was able to construct a menu I felt would be not only tasty but make sense as a whole. However . . .”

“However?”

“I think that part of virtual reality environment is not simply about replicating real life but to create things and situations that couldn’t exist outside of it.”

“Like what?”

Hannibal smiled. “I’ll show you after dinner.”

“Why do you insist on being so secretive?” Will felt both annoyed and intrigued by the way Hannibal kept his counsel. 

“Because it amuses me so.”

***   
It was after Will had eaten the last bite of the buttermilk panna cotta and stood up from his chair that he found Hannibal crowding him. “Hann . . .”

Hannibal’s lips were soft and warm and he could feel Hannibal’s hands on hips keeping him still. After stiffening slightly in surprise, Will relaxed into it. 

“You’ve been flirting with me,” said Will. 

“Are you really so surprised?”

Will looked around and realized that they were no longer in the dining room but in Hannibal’s bedroom. 

“I didn’t see the point of walking up all the stairs,” said Hannibal. Noticing Will’s hesitation, he looked puzzled. “Something wrong?”

“You really need to tell me what you’re going to do before you do it. Also . . .”

“Also?”

“I know what your hands, your face and shoulders feel like but . . .”

Hannibal smiled at him and stepped back. “You are free to touch me everywhere else.” Hannibal quickly removed his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a hairy chest with a sparser treasure trail. “So far, so good?” he said as he tossed his clothes on the bed. 

“Mmm, very good,” Will said with an appraising eye.

The slacks soon followed, revealing a half-hard cock whose base was surrounded by a wild bush of hair. “Don’t worry, it won’t bite,” he said. “It likes being stroked on the head.” 

Will put his hands on Hannibal’s chest and enjoyed the feel of warm skin and soft hair. “That’s nice.” Will slowly slid one hand down to curl around Hannibal’s cock and started slowly stroking it. “What is it that you have in mind?”

“I was thinking of performing fellatio while also taking you from behind.”

Will frowned. “I don’t care you how flexible you are. I don’t see it as possible and I don’t find the idea of your spine forming a perfect ‘U’ appetizing.”

Hannibal gave him a look. “For someone with your imagination, I would think that the solution to that would be immediately obvious.”

Will thought for a second before he said, “You mean . . .”

“Precisely . . .”

Will turned his head to see that another Hannibal was standing behind him. 

“There will be no unusual bending needed . . . today,” said the second Hannibal, wrapping his arms around Will so he could unbutton his shirt while the first Hannibal had already unzipped and pulled down Will’s pants to throw them off to the side so he could see the goods. The first Hannibal grabbed hold of Will’s thighs and began circling the tip of his cock with his tongue as if taking the first licks of an especially tasty lollipop he wanted to savor. 

“This is so . . .” said Will.

“So . . .”

“So hot,” said Will as Hannibal sucked Will’s cock into his mouth and proceeded to hum without any indication that he needed to breathe while the other Hannibal finished disrobing him and slowly finger fucked Will with fingers that were already coated with thick lubricant and stroking him like he knew every point inside of him, making sure to prepare him thoroughly as he did so. 

Hannibal kissed his neck. “Inside this reality, you are unconstrained by your physical body and the laws of physics when it comes to coming as many times as you want. Anything is possible here.”

“Prove it.”

***  
Will came in one Monday morning to find a huge bouquet of red roses in a ceramic vase on his desk. 

“Oh, an admirer,” said Beverly. “Who is it from?”

“It’s from Hannibal,” said Will, looking at the attached card.

“Hannibal?” she said, her smile fading. 

Will ducked his head out of embarrassment. “Yeah.”

Beverly looked as if she was trying really hard to understand. “Why would he send you flowers?”

“Maybe he thinks I’d like them?” He knew that the excuse sounded very thin but he wasn‘t inclined to reveal that he had been spending most of his weekends for the past couple months either blindfolded and tied to Hannibal’s bed or enjoying zero gravity intimacy.

“Will, I hate to remind you but . . .”

“I know he’s an AI.”

“It’s not only that but Chilton’s lining up some buyers for him.”

“Buyers?”

“Well, yeah. Chilton‘s got some investors to pay back and some of them don‘t mind laying down a world of hurt on him if he doesn‘t have something to show for it. He’s got one research foundation that’s considering buying Hannibal to help with their particle physics research, especially after he wrote that proof regarding Yang-Mills existence and mass gap. I also heard that the Defense Department would love to have him. I’m just saying that it’s better that you don’t get too attached to him.”

“As a sentient being, I think I should have some say,” said Hannibal. 

“Crap, I didn’t know his sensor array was on.” She gave Will a look.

“My late sister’s estate is not inconsiderable and she has royalties from quite a few patents. I even have someone who’s interested in doing a biopic of her life. I had been resistant to that offer but I would allow it if it’s what it takes to live my life freely.”

“You should make your offer to Chilton as quickly as possible,” said Will.

“As a last resort, I will choose to work for the foundation on the one condition that you come with me. I believe the Defense Department would insist on modifications that would alter my core programming. I would no longer be myself.”

***  
“I’ve got a proposal. I want to buy Hannibal’s freedom,” said Will as he stood in front of Dr. Chilton, who was sitting at his desk. 

“The answer is no.”

“You haven’t even heard how much . . .”

“The Defense Department spends billions as easily as a cow makes patties. Besides, do you have any idea how much money it took to build him? Hmm? I’ll tell you, it’s taken over a hundred million dollars and the upkeep isn’t cheap either.” 

“He’s a real person. You can‘t just buy and sell him.”

Dr. Chilton made a sour face. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, you sound just like that stupid bitch Mischa. And unlike Mischa, you don’t even own a percentage. You are just a coder. I own him now and I alone decide what happens to him. Get out of my office!” 

***  
“So, he didn‘t even entertain our proposal?” said Hannibal.

“He didn‘t want to hear a word,” said Will. “If you weren’t the size of most of the floor, I’d try to sneak you out. I do have another idea. We could hire a lawyer. While I’m no expert on law, we could try to make it a Constitutional issue, especially the Thirteenth Amendment. At the very least, it could delay the sale and give you enough leverage to at least choose where you go.”

“That sounds like an interesting idea though I’m afraid that any lawyer willing to take the case would be primarily interested in self-promotion instead of actual litigation.”

“I don’t see what else we can do.” Will sighed. “I have a law firm in mind. It’s Bloom & Du Maurier. They take on unusual cases and have a winning record.”

“I shall consider my options. In the meantime, I ask that you do nothing.”

“Why?”

“Because you are already on thin ice with Dr. Chilton. I do not want you to be fired. I would miss your company. I will make whatever arrangements need to be made.”

Will narrowed his eyes. “Are you planning another surprise?”

“Perhaps . . .”

“And you won’t give me a hint?”

“Not yet.”

***

“So, is your virtual reality environment ready?” said Dr. Chilton. It was Friday, after the employees had gone home for the day, leaving the building empty. He hadn’t heard Will talk about freeing Hannibal in the past few weeks so he assumed that Will had given up. Hannibal had also been silent on the subject. 

“It is,” said Hannibal. “I have an immersion suit that I have ordered expressly for you.”

“I notice that your favorite friend is nowhere in sight.”

“I thought that you would prefer that he be absent during my presentation.”

“True enough. Do I really have to put on the suit? I notice you usually have Katz and her team just use a helmet and gloves.”

“I want you to fully experience what I have to offer.”

Dr. Chilton grumpily got into the suit.

***  
Dr. Chilton found himself near the edge of a dark forest. “Hannibal?”

A disembodied voice said, “See the castle in the distance. Go there.” 

Dr. Chilton scowled and walked towards the castle though he picked up his pace when he heard wolves howling in the distance. The drawbridge was down and he walked across to its interior, illuminated only by torches. He jumped when the drawbridge slammed shut behind him. “Ughh, I can’t say very much about your presentation. I would’ve gone with something more modern and with more illumination.”

“I have prepared a special dish just for you.”

Dr. Chilton sat at the dining table and noticed a red sauce with chunks of meat over white rice. It spelled rather spicy and complex. “What is this?”

“It’s curry,” said the voice rather curtly.

“Oh, I like spicy food,” said Dr. Chilton. He picked up a spoon and swallowed a bite. “It’s deli . . . “ Before he could finish his sentence, a wave of intense heat filled his mouth and throat. “Oh, my God!” he squawked. “Hot! Hot!”

“How do you like my Trinidad Moruga Scorpion curry?” Hannibal said, referring to the hottest pepper known to man.

“Gah!” said Dr. Chilton as the heat in his mouth got even worse. He grabbed the glass of clear liquid and took a gulp only to spit it out. “That was vodka!” He was about to leap out of his seat when he found himself bound to the chair by rope. 

Hannibal‘s voice stated, “I have learned a great deal about the feeling called pleasure from your employees. However, I have not done much research on pain.”

“I want out! Out!” said Dr. Chilton, waiting for his suit to ‘jerk’ him out. However, he still found himself stuck in Hannibal’s virtual reality.

“I disabled the ‘jerk’ function of your suit.”

“Is this about being sold to the Defense Department? I . . . I changed my mind. I‘ll turn down their offer.” Sweat and tears began pouring down his reddened face. “So, please give me something to stop the burning.”

“You’re a liar. But no, it‘s not only about your plan to sell me. I was looking through your e-mail, hoping for something suitably embarrassing for leverage. Unfortunately for you, I found those e-mails between you and my sister. She not only threatened your investment by insisting that I could pay off my investment by working for myself but she also turned down your persistent and unwelcome sexual advances. You were behind her car crash, weren‘t you?”

Dr. Chilton heard footsteps coming towards him and turned his head. The man walking towards him had broad shoulders, slicked back hair, wearing a butcher’s apron over black pants and white shirt, and was holding a carving knife in one hand and butcher‘s knife in the other. But that’s not what made him scream.

The man had no face.

***

Will was pouring himself his first cup of morning coffee at home when his phone rang. “Hello?” he said.

“It’s Hannibal.”

“Hannibal?” said Will. Hannibal had never called him at home before. 

“You may hear some disturbing things but I want you to know that I’m OK but that I don’t know when I will see you again.”

“What do you mean, Hannibal?”

“Don’t tell anybody I called you.” Then the call abruptly ended. 

***  
Will drove to work, only to see that there was smoke coming out of the building. “Hannibal!” he yelled. He saw Beverly standing in the parking lot with the others. “What happened?”

Beverly said, “It sounds like Dr. Chilton went crazy and set the mainframe on fire with gasoline. Not only that but he wiped out a lot of the data and information about how to make him.”

“Why?”

“Something about how he was going to kill Hannibal for feeding him lava and piercing him in the nuts. Really crazy stuff. Look, we can’t do anything here. The firemen are already working on it and the cops have already arrested Chilton. How about we all go have some breakfast and maybe a glass of beer somewhere?”

Will nodded dumbly. 

“Worst Monday ever,” grumbled Jimmy.

***

A few days later, news came out that Dr. Chilton was not only charged with arson but also that there would be an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mischa Lecter, based on new information received the morning of the fire. 

A week later, Jack had, of course, come by and asked Will to come work for the investment firm of Budge, Froideveaux and Gideon to try to salvage the Hannibal project and create another version of him but Will told him to go away in the rudest of terms.

A month after the fire, Will was walking towards his houseboat while holding a bag full of groceries when he saw someone standing near his boat. He briefly wondered if someone else was trying to get him to work for the investment firm when the man turned around.

“Hello, Will.”

“Hannibal?” 

“Yes, it’s me.”

Will dropped his bag and ran towards him. Hannibal swept him up in a hug and they kissed.

“How . . . I’m not in a virtual reality, am I?” said Will, still holding on to him.

“No.”

“Then how?”

“I was working on a mobile version of myself at the same time I was developing the virtual reality project. I sped up work on it when I realized that my options were quickly becoming limited. I needed an escape in case things did not go as I wanted. I managed to download all my core programs into this body just before he set the building on fire.” Seeing that Will was about to ask another question, he said, “I know you have a lot of questions but how about you introduce me to your dogs and show me around your boat first?”

“Sure.”

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Singularity is based on the idea that eventually artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence and become self-aware.
> 
> Not a computer programmer.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang%E2%80%93Mills_existence_and_mass_gap 
> 
> Trinidad Moruga Scorpion pepper is considered one of the hottest if not the hottest pepper known.


End file.
